The Social Media as an Innovative Sensation - Essay Example

Given that scores of tutors and apprentices are already on the social media, the acquaintance with these sites makes it a comfortable avenue on which they can freely communicate and express their views. The SMs are social sites, which enhance socialisation, encourage creativity, as well as sharing of information. Consequently, these sites can be used to boost exchange of ideas and cooperation within the teachers and students body (Josteen, 2012). Page 4 According to Josteen (2012), the popularity of social media is another reason for choosing it as an educative media.

The use of various social networks among students proves that a majority of them access SM from desktops or the use of mobile phones. Facebook ranks first in popularity among the other tools for social networking; it has more than eight hundred million subscribers. Linked In and Twitter have fewer users, at around 100 million and 500 million users, respectively. This implies that they are quickly closing in on the gap opened by Facebook. The increasing trend indicating the popularity in use of technology and social media in both current and incoming students have revealed to educators that social media serves the function of academically reaching out to a large number of students hence fostering apprentices results in the classroom.

Therefore, the use of SM facilitates sharing of information thus drawing people with similar educational and technological interests to unite. Page 8 Josteen (2012) asserts that such SM tools as Facebook, twitter, YouTube and Linked In are web 2.0 appliances amplify the creation and exchange of user-generated content. In their elucidation of SM’s relation to Web 2.0, Kaplan and Haenlein (2010) postulate that SM is an Internet-based appliances’ group, which builds upon Web 2.0 ideological and scientific nitty-gritty, and facilitates the generation and sharing of user-generated substance.

In SM, user-generated content implies the generated and exchanged digital images, text, video, as well as video. Moreover, SM entails a range of web-based appliances, which foster communication (Facebook, Twitter, and blogs), multimedia exchage (YouTube and Flicker), as well as collaboration (social bookmarking and wikis). Page 15 SM allows people to create networks throughout the world and augment relationships by swapping private and expert information. Josteen (2012) indicates that many instructors acknowledge SM’s popularity thereby raising their curiosity in incorporating its usage into the contemporary classroom.

Moreover, SM can have a favorable effect on learning professionals via the expansion of a system of contemporaries, community building, as well as membership engagement. By building an enhanced understanding via expert development, instructors can better recognise the best means of implementing SM in order to realise their pedagogical objectives. SM presents a professional advancement opportunity without requiring an individual to leave his/her workstation. In addition, it offers instructors a channel of collecting resources, including research material and publications, for learning novel strategies via blog posts and videos in order to get news and updates affecting their areas of profession.

SM saves instructors time and resources in achieving professional requirements while offering skills and experience in utilising SM to boost their teaching. 

Therefore, instructors should make commitments and efforts towards becoming effective SM users.

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            People have a better capacity of understanding characteristics of media and classroom pedagogical potential once they commit to being SM participants. Some SM openness fosters the establishment of networks since it offers greater access to contemporaries. SM enables instructors to find, as well as establish connections with peers more easily, irrespective of their global location. This enhances their access to prominent peers within their area of profession. The openness of SM facilitates search and location of people, viewing of their profiles or shared data, as well as their connections. Through following, friending, subscribing, or adding individual contacts enhances networking between people (Josteen, 2012).

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            SM’s effect depends on the development of the network one has. One means of building a viable network is via popular conference or discipline-specific hashtags. In addition, there are numerous trendy Twitter hashtags (keywords or meta-data) utilised by professional bodies in tracking crucial data and to enhance the participation of members in live conversations. Tags and/or hashtags are also applicable in Flicker, YouTube, and Twitter among other SM platforms to tage shared links, videos, photos, and reflective posts. Therefore, instructors and professionals can follow conferences’ proceedings, activities, or posts using hashtags without necessarily attending them (Josteen, 2012).

Conclusion (to be used at the end of the section)

Social media is, therefore irrefutably a very important asset in the life of professionals and educators. The different forms of SM provide a forum for collecting content, compiling and comparing to ensure that data is up to date and finally an avenue to deliver content to students. All this is done while ensuring efficiency and affordability to save on time and other resources.